In December 2021, we held a very successful Griffith Criminology Institute Lightning Talks and Networking Event for Postgraduates and Early Career Researchers in South-East Queensland. This event brought researchers together from several universities, including Griffith University, University of Sunshine Coast (USC), University of Queensland (UQ), Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and Central Queensland University (CQU). This provided researchers with the opportunity to spotlight their research and network with local HDR students and ECRs.
Director of GCI Professor Janet Ransley and Event Chair Carley Ruiz opened the event, which was also chaired by Tristan Russell and Shuktika Bose. Attendees heard from 13 presenters on their research, including recent Honours students, PhD candidates, and ECRs. There were a range of interesting topics including child sex offenders, crime prevention, fraud, pathways to prison, surveillance, wrongful conviction, workplace victimisation and guardianship, digital piracy, road safety, social bonds and delinquency, and analytical nuances.
There were several key highlights of the day. First, most impressive was undergraduate and Honours students presenting at their first public forum. For example, Oliver Sing, who is a prospective Honours student, contributed to a research paper on “Card-not-present fraud” during his undergraduate research internship and was invited to share these findings. It was great to hear Oliver link his understanding of theory and course materials with their research findings, in a confident presentation.
Second, road safety researcher from QUT Chae Rose discussed the overreliance on deterrence theory and risk factors. Chae’s choice of images sparked debate amongst the audience as Fast & Furious character Dom Toretto featured on the screen, as opposed to Brian O’Connor, an undercover cop with an unusual affinity for street racing.
Last, Shannon Walding expanded on the analytical technique of conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC). Part of the process of CACC involves identifying all possible combinations of characteristics in the data sample. Shannon discussed the reasons why CACC may be an appropriate technique when analysing Australian survey data from representative samples, as part of her work with the Reporting Islam project.
Following the Lightning Talks, attendees took a short walk to the Ship Inn to network and celebrate the fascinating research being undertaken. This was a great opportunity to meet researchers cross-institutionally (an opportunity which had been removed during the COVID-19 pandemic), and for Honours students to get a flavour for the HDR experience.
This event was organised by postgraduate candidates from Griffith University, specifically the School of Criminology and the Griffith Criminology Institute: Carley Ruiz and Michael Pass (CCJ/GCI HDR Representatives), and Tristan Russell and Shuktika Bose. We would like to thank GCI for their continued support for HDR students and ECRs, GCI (particularly Janet Ransley, Keiran Hardy, Li Eriksson, and Amanda Cockle), and most importantly our presenters’ insightful research and the attendees for their engagement and support.
